Canadiens defeat Penguins in Quebec City

Playing the first NHL game at the brand new Videotron Centre, a building the city hopes will be home to its own NHL team one day, the Canadiens hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins in a preseason game in what was once extremely hostile territory.

It's been 20 years since that was the case, when the Quebec Nordiques moved away and became the Colorado Avalanche in 1995-96. An entire generation of people were born and have come of age since then, but that feeling remains.

Quebec City remains hostile territory for the Canadiens.

"It was probably 50/50," said Canadiens center David Desharnais, a native of nearby Laurier-Station, Quebec. "But that's the way it is here."

There were many red Canadiens jerseys among the sellout crowd of 18,259, but the people wearing those jerseys weren't very loud, or at least they weren't allowed to be.

When the Canadiens took the ice for warmups, they were met by timid cheers and a smattering of boos.

Fans who attempted to get a "Go Habs Go" chant going were met immediately with a chorus of boos. They were completely drowned out the first time and stopped almost immediately. The second time, they continued despite the booing.

Though Desharnais grew up in the area and was a young boy when the Nordiques left, he grew up a Canadiens fan because his father rooted for the enemy at the time. So the atmosphere at Videotron Centre was nothing new to him. It was almost like a family reunion.

"I was like 8 or 9 [years old]," Desharnais said. "The memories I have are more my father fighting some uncles. Not fighting, but a battle of words with the family."

Quebecor Inc. has its expansion application for Quebec City in the hands of the NHL and has reached Stage 3 of the process, with information still being gathered on the viability of the market.

Considering it has been 20 years since the Nordiques last played at the Colisée, which is across the street from the new facility, it was worth wondering whether the city's fervent love of that team survived all this time.

It's hard to say whether that is the case, but one thing has most definitely survived from the old Battle of Quebec, and that is a clear dislike for the Canadiens.

It once could be fairly described as a hatred, but that's probably not fair to say anymore. Still, something from that era has lingered, and it was evident Monday.

What was equally evident was how much the fans of this city have missed NHL-caliber hockey.

The Quebec Remparts are one of the most successful franchises in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, but the skill on display Monday clearly is on another level, even if it was just a preseason game.

Off the opening faceoff, the puck came back to Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov, who curled into his zone before unleashing a backhand saucer pass that landed on the tape of Desharnais at the Penguins blue line for a breakaway. Almost immediately, the fans of this city saw what they have been missing for 20 years, and a hush came over the crowd as Marc-Andre Fleury, a native of Sorel, Quebec, about a two-hour drive away, made a pad save.

A few minutes later, Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban spun away from Penguins forward Dominik Uher at the Pittsburgh blue line to create space for himself, and the crowd collectively let out an "Oooh" at the display of skill.